If you’ve ever been in the grocery store right after someone mops the floor, you have no doubt seen the yellow warning signs that businesses place on wet surfaces. They do this to provide an obvious and visual warning that the floor could cause someone to slip, substantially reducing the liability the business has if someone gets hurt.
Most businesses and facilities open to the public are very proactive in their efforts to reduce their liability when it comes to people getting hurt on the premises. However, some businesses don’t bother to think about potential premises liability issues until after there’s an injury. There are certain ways that businesses can contribute to the risk for someone to slip and fall. They include:
Keeping inadequate staff on hand during shifts
Minimizing the number of total staff hours on any given day is one way for a company to control its costs and increase profits. However, when there aren’t enough people to handle all of the work that has to be done, maintenance and cleaning will often be the tasks that get ignored.
If there aren’t enough workers on hand to address a spill or puddle as soon as it happens, someone could wind up slipping and falling in a totally preventable accident.
Putting off maintenance until it’s an emergency
Maybe there is a sink in the bathroom that drips just a little bit from underneath. Or, maybe there’s a spot by the freezers where the refrigeration unit occasionally causes condensation near the floor. Businesses that put off necessary maintenance and repairs for too long could wind up paying a lot more in the long run if someone gets hurt because they didn’t maintain their facilities properly.
Leaky roofs, slippery, uneven floors and a host of other factors can all drastically increase premises liability. Businesses may put off these repairs because they seem expensive, but the risk for someone getting hurt continues every day that such tasks go unattended.
For those who wind up hurt on another person’s property due to something that basic maintenance would have addressed, it may be possible to bring a premises liability claim in order to secure compensation for your losses. Find out more about your rights today.